Giuliani: 'I Never Said There Was No Collusion' in Trump Campaign
President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Thursday sought to clarify remarks he made on CNN the previous night, when he said he could only speak for the president, not his campaign, regarding possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign.
“I represent only President Trump not the Trump campaign. There was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form,” Giuliani said in a statement. “Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.”
“The only knowledge I have in this regard is the collusion of the Clinton campaign with Russia which has so far been ignored,” he added.
Just in statement from Rudy Giuliani: “I represent only President Trump not the Trump campaign. There was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form. Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.” pic.twitter.com/kDwwoYI5Ys
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) January 17, 2019
Giuliani told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday night, “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign!”
“Yes you have!” Cuomo interjected.
“I have not!” the former New York City mayor forcefully responded. “I said the president of the United States. There is not a single bit of evidence the president of the United States committed the only crime you could commit here, conspired with the Russians to hack the (Democratic National Committee).”
Cuomo then pressed Giuliani on reports that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort shared polling data with a Russian businessman, who special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has accused of having “ties to a Russian intelligence service.”
“How is that not collusion?” the CNN host asked.
“It’s not collusion. Polling data is given to everybody,” Giuliani answered. “He shouldn’t have given it to them. It’s wrong to give it to them. I can’t speak for Paul Manafort.”
“I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign… I have not. I said the President of the United States,” Pres. Trump’s attorney @RudyGiuliani tells @ChrisCuomo https://t.co/Jy0gttT6Ac pic.twitter.com/JGISmtgrdy
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) January 17, 2019
Giuliani said Trump did not know about sharing polling data with Russians until it was reported in the media earlier this month.
The attorney further noted that he had not seen the testimony from the Mueller probe on which the news stories are based.
“At this point, I have no real solid knowledge that anything like that was done, all I have is what was leaked to a newspaper, probably unethically.”
Giuliani called on Mueller to provide proof of wrongdoing by Trump.
“Let’s see if he’s got anything — I challenge him to show us some evidence that the president was involved in anything approaching criminal conduct,” he said, according to CNN.
Regarding Mueller’s much-anticipated report, Giuliani contended that Trump’s legal team should have the chance to view it first, so they can be prepared to respond when it is made public.
He added that he would like to see the report unredacted “so that he and fellow Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow could provide a complete counterargument,” CNN reported.
“As his lawyer, I’d honestly like you to see the whole report because I think Jay and I could knock the hell out of it,” Giuliani said.
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